Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 679: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the number of children at primary and second level that have been formally assessed as being in need of special needs support; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31190/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware all primary and post-primary schools have access to educational psychological assessments either directly through the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) or through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA). Schools that do not currently have NEPS psychologists assigned to them may avail of the SCPA, whereby the school can have an assessment carried out by a member of the panel of private psychologists approved and paid for by NEPS.

In common with many other psychological services and best international practice, NEPS encourages a staged assessment process, whereby each school takes responsibility for initial assessment, educational planning and remedial intervention, in consultation with their assigned NEPS psychologist. Only if there is a failure to make reasonable progress in spite of the school's best efforts, will a child be referred for individual psychological assessment. This system allows the psychologists to give early attention to urgent cases and also to help many more children indirectly than could be seen individually. It also ensures that children are not referred unnecessarily for psychological intervention.

The document "Special Needs Education – A Continuum of Support", which has been circulated to all primary school teachers, demonstrates this process which moves from simple classroom based interventions to more specialised and individual interventions. These guidelines describe a graduated problem solving model of assessment and intervention in schools and comprise three distinct school based processes which are summarised below: 1. Classroom Support – is an intervention which is co-ordinated by the Class Teacher and is carried out in the regular classroom, 2. School Support - is an assessment and intervention process which is usually co-ordinated by the learning support/resource teacher working alongside the class teacher. Interventions at this stage will be additional to those provided through classroom support. 3. School Support Plus – is generally characterised by the school requesting the involvement by the relevant external service in more detailed assessment and development of intervention programmes. This level of intervention is for children with complex and/or enduring needs and whose progress is considered inadequate, despite carefully planned interventions at previous levels. The staged model recognises that pupils present with a wide range of issues and difficulties and allows for their amelioration and intervention at the level most appropriate to the particular need.

NEPS psychologists provide both support and development service to teachers in accommodating the various needs at levels 1 and 2 of the staged model and provide advice in relation to appropriate intervention in relation to unnamed pupils or groups of pupils as well as servicing the identified needs at individual named pupil at level 3 up to and including full psychological assessment. The input in respect of stages 1 and 2 is therefore not recorded at individual pupil level by NEPS. It should be noted that even at level 3 the assessment may take a variety of forms depending on the pupils needs.

NEPS also provide support to the State Examinations Commission in making recommendations for students applying for special accommodation under the Reasonable Accommodation for State Examinations (RACE) scheme mainly at leaving certificate level.

As the assessment of children as being potentially in need of additional support is continuous throughout the school year, figures in relation to the number of children with whom NEPS has engaged in the 2009/10 school year are not yet available.

For the academic year 2008-09 the NEPS service engaged, as described above, with some 14,200 named pupils in primary and secondary schools across the range of formal educational assessment routines to inform teachers and parents as to the particular needs of the pupils involved. This figure does not include pupils who would have undergone other forms of assessment by a range of health professionals and clinicians.